Poor Man\'s Heli

In an odd stroke of timing I was talking about wanting to try the Mountain Hardwear Koa 55 early last week. It really seems like a good mix of light (though not ultralight by any stretch) and feature filled. Fast forward to Friday and I discovered MH was doing their semi-annual warehouse sale, which also allows mere mortals such as myself to shop their employee store. As I’m a dedicated blogger I decided I should sacrifice some of my hard earned money to buy some new gear to review (read as: it was blowing 35+ at the coast so surfing/kayaking didn’t sound like much fun) for everyone.

So, as I’m in the process of packing/moving and won’t be able to take the pack out for at least two weeks I wanted to post some pics up for anyone else considering the pack. Seems like there was a bit of hype surrounding this pack in all the buyer’s guides this year, but I haven’t been able to find much in the way of real-world images or reviews.

Mountain Hardwear Koa 55

Main pocket on Koa 55, with rolltop (think: drybag) closure

Small external pocket with key loop

Side access (on both sides) to main pocket

Stowaway mesh helmet carrier

Bottom access to pack. Yes, there are a lot of zippers on the pack.

Mesh backpanel. Most stoked for this as my old Gregory is WARM

A friendly little LNT reminder

That’s all for now. As always, if there’s a question about the product, or an angle you want photographed, lemme know. I apologize for the pics being a bit blown out, don’t have the time to edit the levels/curves on ‘em.

UPDATE:
The Koa is 20% off at Moosejaw.com, with free shipping, until November 1st.

The Mountain Hardwear Koa 55 is available online at Altrec.com, REI.com and WeGotYourPack.com, but as always I recommend you try and shop at your local outdoor equipment retailer. If you don’t support them first you’ll have nobody to blame but yourself if there comes a time where you can’t go look/feel equipment locally before buying.

Reviews and first looks coming ‘soon’:
Mountain Hardwear Koa 55 pack (duh)
Mountain Hardwear Phantom 32 bag – complete, click to read
Perception Search 15 (sit-on-top kayak)